The Tigray Trust

The Tigray Trust supports village communities in Tigray, Ethiopia in finding ways to make their lives sustainable in the face of extreme poverty and the ever-growing threat of drought and famine  exacerbated by climate change.

The Tigray Trust is a British registered charity that was set up some three years ago by a group of London-based friends. Its Director is Louise Schofield — an archaeologist who has been working in Ethiopia for five years. Her first archaeological, conservation and development project, in 2007-2009, (under the auspices of the Eyesus Hintsa Trust) transformed a barren prehistoric river valley in Tigray into an archaeological and environmental park.

Ethiopia is one of the very poorest countries of all and the people of its north-eastern region of Tigray have had an unenviable recent history beset by civil war, border conflicts with neighbouring Eritrea, drought and terrible famine  the worst in 1985 when a million Ethiopians died. Tigray is now politically stable but drought, crop failure and famine are an ever-present danger to communities so entirely dependent on subsistence farming for a living.

In the face of all these hardships the people have maintained their dignity and their wonderful indomitability of spirit. But they need our help in finding new ways of making their lives sustainable.

The Tigray Trust works at a grassroots level with each community designing and implementing holistic projects incorporating food security, crop diversification, reforestation and the promotion of the regions extraordinary cultural heritage to encourage ecotourism as an additional and sustainable source of income.

Our partners in Ethiopia include the Centre for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (CRCCH) in Addis Ababa, the Tigray Commission for Tourism and Culture and the local authorities in Hawzien.